300 stolen cars from SA set to be retrieved from Malawi – Cele

Want your car back?

In South Africa, a stolen car is a pretty common thing. Sadly, most South Africans who own cars experience their vehicle being taken from them at some point in their life. While they are often recovered thanks to tracking devices, they also tend to end up on the other side of the border.

South Africa’s stolen cars: Cele to get them back

Police Minister Bheki Cele revealed on Thursday that he will be taking a trip to Malawi to retrieve stolen South African vehicles that have been smuggled across the border.

”At least 22,000 cars are stolen in South Africa every year, and most of them are taken over our borders to neighbouring countries. Malawi has 300 of these vehicles, many of the cars are stolen from Gauteng,” Cele told the media at a briefing at Tembisa police station in Ekurhuleni.

Cele also explained that he was shocked to see stolen luxury vehicles with SA number plates driving around in Maputo, Mozambique.

”They do not even change the number plates there…I wont tell you who drives them, but I can tell you that a lot of the stolen Gauteng cars are being driven freely in the streets of Maputo with no problem. I will be meeting with authorities there soon to attend to this issue.”

With cash-in-transit vans being one of the top crime issues of 2018 so far, Cele revealed that 47 CIT suspects have been arrested since January.

With police “intensifying operations”, criminals have now started leaving Gauteng to target other provinces such as the Free State, Mpumalanga and Limpopo. SAPS had been watching Gauteng with “a hawk’s eye” to combat the heists.

”Fifty nine firearms were confiscated, 47 explosive devices and 152 rounds of ammunition as well as millions of rands have been seized. The biggest cash haul was at Mthatha [Eastern Cape], where police recovered stacks of cash running into million, packed and hidden.”

Under Cele’s ministerial leadership, police have arrested four of the 15 most wanted criminals in SA.